New oil leak, what did I break?

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FJ40JOHN

SILVER Star
Joined
Jul 12, 2003
Threads
36
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362
Location
Cypress, TX
Driving home from work today I noticed that my oil pressure gauge was lower than normal, and fluctuating. It is normally pegged just below the top of the 'good' range and stays rock solid. Been that way since I bought it and was still there after an oil change a couple of months ago. Today it was below the 'good' range at idle, then at speed it came up to about midway in the 'good' range.

Checked the oil after cooling off at the house and showed nothing on the dipstick. Added about 1.5 qt (remains of a gallon bottle) of Rotella, still nothing on the stick.

Checked under the truck and my front driveshaft, starter, and oil pan (just the PS rear corner) are covered in oil.

Already had a bit of a leak from the tranny/tcase, but this is further forward.

What did I break and how much is this going to cost me?

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Just a (couple of) guess(es), based on it's being on the passenger side:
Oil galley "plug" (misnomer for sure)
Side cover/push rod gasket

Did it happen acutely -- like within a day -- or over time?
 
mtnphilosopher said:
Just a (couple of) guess(es), based on it's being on the passenger side:
Oil galley "plug" (misnomer for sure)
Side cover/push rod gasket

Did it happen acutely -- like within a day -- or over time?
Click to expand...

Drove to work this morning and all seemed good at least pressure-wise. My oil spot in the driveway did look a bit worse over the last few days, but maybe it just took that long to piss all the oil out before I noticed on the gauge.
 
Oil galley is on the head, between spark plugs 4-5, will be obvious, otherwise clean up and try to track it up to the source. Side cover sounds likely...

Front main seal / timing cover?
 
Thanks for the tips, I checked them out.

Plug is fine...so caked with crap that it probably wouldn't leak even if the plug was gone. Side cover is wet, but only on bottom rear corner.

A good bit of oil sprayed around the area. Spatter at the level of the plugs, and significantly more lower.

Could the PCV valve be bypassing and blowing everywhere? Only have a single clamp on it and it is loose. Will resolve tomorrow and see what I can do. Wiped the valve down and noted that lots of things in that area were wet.
 
Front main seal was an issue on mine at 190,000mi
 
That oil cooler hose looks suspect... See if it is soft and gummy.
 
Not sure how many miles you have on the motor, but have you checked the air filter. Lift it out of the housing and make sure you don't have oil in there. I had a 2F do this recently and made a mess all down the back and side of the motor.
 
Side cover gasket should be torqued. Check plugs in oil filter/ cooler housing. Check dipstick and tube.
 
But I was told too regarding that side cover, don't tighten the bolts now as the cover is kinda thin (I did mine recently and could share a few pixs so you can see what I mean) and it will cause the holes to mushroom out. If your getting oil up in your air cleaner housing where @CenTXFJ60 recommended you'll need to pull that pcv and blow it out good with brake cleaner and shake it up and down and make sure it has movement. Mine was totally filled with wicked brown crud and a mess. But later when I pulled both my manifolds I also found that the other end of the pcv line at the exhaust egr hardline was totally blocked solid. Seems to that if you were getting a bunch of blowby into the housing it wouldn't cause such a mess nor such a drop on your dip stick...
 
Had some time today so I dug around a bit. Oil in air filter housing. New PCV and grommet will be installed Monday, probably with new (or at least blown out) hoses.

Hopefully that sorts it. Thanks for the help.
 
FJ40JOHN said:
Had some time today so I dug around a bit. Oil in air filter housing. New PCV and grommet will be installed Monday, probably with new (or at least blown out) hoses.

Hopefully that sorts it. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Keep us posted on your progress. Is yours a high mileage engine? Hopefully you have some good luck and it's just a clogged PCV. And be sure and change out your air filter. I was not that lucky with my sons 60 when we found oil in the filter.
 
Remember to check that hardline that the pcv connects too. Granted it's probably not clogged since you wouldn't have oil in the housing but you never know. I had some oil in mine, not a bunch but as I said above my egr hardline off my exhaust manifold was completely blocked. I've since added a block off plate and have the pcv hooked up to a 90 attached to another block off plate on the intake. (You can get those from MAF and Jim C, I believe).
 
CenTXFJ60 said:
Keep us posted on your progress. Is yours a high mileage engine? Hopefully you have some good luck and it's just a clogged PCV. And be sure and change out your air filter. I was not that lucky with my sons 60 when we found oil in the filter.
Click to expand...

Mileage is a good question. Bought it with ~149k in December, daily drive it, and it still at 149k! Didn't notice that only the tenths turn on the odometer when I test drove it. No idea how long it has been that way. My guess is at 150-200k, zero maintenance records.

Filter didn't seem to be dirty at all, just a bit of oil in the bottom of the housing. New filter was installed within the last couple of months, and I don't recall seeing any oil then, but may have just missed it.

NeverGiveUpYota said:
Remember to check that hardline that the pcv connects too. Granted it's probably not clogged since you wouldn't have oil in the housing but you never know. I had some oil in mine, not a bunch but as I said above my egr hardline off my exhaust manifold was completely blocked. I've since added a block off plate and have the pcv hooked up to a 90 attached to another block off plate on the intake. (You can get those from MAF and Jim C, I believe).
Click to expand...

I plan to pull all of the connected hoses and such and blast them out as best I can with brake cleaner.

What is the purpose of the block off plates? Part of a desmog like the EGR plate?
 
FJ40JOHN said:
Mileage is a good question. Bought it with ~149k in December, daily drive it, and it still at 149k! Didn't notice that only the tenths turn on the odometer when I test drove it. No idea how long it has been that way. My guess is at 150-200k, zero maintenance records.

Filter didn't seem to be dirty at all, just a bit of oil in the bottom of the housing. New filter was installed within the last couple of months, and I don't recall seeing any oil then, but may have just missed it.



I plan to pull all of the connected hoses and such and blast them out as best I can with brake cleaner.

What is the purpose of the block off plates? Part of a desmog like the EGR plate?
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
FJ40JOHN said:
Mileage is a good question. Bought it with ~149k in December, daily drive it, and it still at 149k! Didn't notice that only the tenths turn on the odometer when I test drove it. No idea how long it has been that way. My guess is at 150-200k, zero maintenance records.

Filter didn't seem to be dirty at all, just a bit of oil in the bottom of the housing. New filter was installed within the last couple of months, and I don't recall seeing any oil then, but may have just missed it.



I plan to pull all of the connected hoses and such and blast them out as best I can with brake cleaner.

What is the purpose of the block off plates? Part of a desmog like the EGR plate?
Click to expand...
You should be in good shape with those miles. Ours had 350k on the odometer and the motor was getting tired. My issue was ring wear.
 
I would start by de-greasing and pressure washing that engine down.
 
Replaced the PCV and grommet this evening with OEM parts.

Blew out the hoses, they didn't seem bad at all. Carb end of the PCV hose split, so it will be replaced soon, but is serviceable for now.

Noticed the air filter was about 50% saturated with oil when I pulled it. Didn't grab one, so I'll replace that soon.

Pressure gauge seems more stable, probably in my head. I'll keep an eye on it during my commute tomorrow.

I'm still very confused by the dipstick. When cold, I don't see anything. When hot, the whole thing is coated. When I pulled it while running, I was getting some exhaust out of the tube (seen it in the fill port as well). Next project maybe.
 
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